Body Mike: An Unsparing Expose by the Mafia Insider Who Turned on the Mob

Cantalupo is the son of a Brooklyn real-estate dealer who did business with the mob, and he in his turn became involved with several Mafia bosses, including Joseph Colombo, Carlo Gambino and ``Funzi'' Tieri. An incorrigible gambler, he found himself threatened by the mob for his debts. In due course he became an FBI undercover agent and informant; his testimony was influential in sending some two dozen criminals to prison. Writing with the Newsday reporter who coauthored Mafia Princess with Antoinette Giancana and My Life in the Mafia with Vincent Teresa, he tells a story not unlike those related by others on the fringes of or in organized crime who have turned against the mob--until he discusses the federal witness protection program, which he shows to be seriously flawed and, in many cases, actually dangerous for those it is meant to protect. (Jan.)